Europees Parlement

Today the Foreign Affairs Committee voted on a report dealing with EU - Iran relations following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal. The ALDE Group in the European Parliament made clear its position on this file by voting against the resolution which failed to address critical issues such as human rights violations.

"While we welcome the agreement with Iran as a success of EU and multilateral diplomacy, this report lacks balance and fails to address key issues for our political group. We sought unequivocal condemnation of human rights violations, as well as a strong condemnation of the support the Iranian regime provides to the murderous Syrian government and terrorist groups. It is incomprehensible that the wording on such blatant violations of international law remains so vague. It seems a gold rush is blinding MEPs, even though high levels of corruption, and state interference in the economy also impact their ability to do business in a predictable and transparent way."

"Iran ranks lowest on all lists related to human rights violations. The number of executions has gone up, torture in prisons is systematic, media and speech freedom do not exist and women and religious minorities lack protection of their rights both in law and in practice. The EU must be clear about the path forward in developing a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran. There must be clear conditionality with benchmarks that need to be met before cooperation can evolve."

MEPS Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands), ALDE AFET coordinator, added: "It´s vital that Iran lives up to its obligations agreed in the normalisation process with the EU. This means respect for civil liberties and human rights. Iran also should refrain from terrorist activities. The adopted resolution by the EP foreign Affairs committee does not reflect the seriousness of these conditions."ALDE.eu